Setting Up the Night Perch

Toting scavenged metal through a lit alley when night falls is an easy way to draw eyes. I dragged my wide putty knife and pliers behind a stack of weathered timber pallets, right where a heavy cinder block sat on its side against the brick wall. The hollow cavity inside was filled with dried leaves and cobwebs. I used the putty knife to scrape the debris clear, kicking the dust out with my boot heel. To make sure no prowling stray cat pokes its nose in, I propped the flat steel blade of the putty knife vertically across half the opening, securing it with the spring clamp pinched onto an exposed masonry wire. Slid inside, leaned back against the cool rough concrete, and peered through the narrow metal slit into the shadows. Snug, shielded, and completely untouchable. Ha!